Setting aside the report of an internal inquiry by the army into alleged involvement of Indian peacekeepers in smuggling gold in Congo, the defence ministry has directed a serving general to join the probe into the matter by the peacekeeping office of the United Nations.
The ministry, after perusing the internal inquiry by the army and preliminary investigations by the UN into the episode, decided to depute Lt Gen Rajinder Singh to the UN headquarters by the end of this month to make a combined effort to find the truth, official sources said.
"It is not an internal matter of the army. After all, the image of the country is at stake. The ministry wants the army to join the investigation with the UN peacekeeping office and ensure that the name of the country comes out clean," a senior defence ministry official said.
The episode came to light in July when certain human rights bodies alleged that UN peacekeepers stationed in Congo's North Kivu province near the Rwandan border were indulging in trafficking of gold.
The investigative wing of the UN mission in Congo launched an inquiry into the allegations. Indian peacekeepers are serving in this central African nation.
The Indian Army questioned its troops who had been stationed in Congo when returned to the country after serving with the UN mission. After their questioning, the army gave a clean chit to the troops, saying they had no role in the gold smuggling, the sources said.
Though the preliminary probe pointed to the involvement of Pakistani soldiers in the smuggling, the ministry is awaiting a final report on the issue for which it has asked Lt Gen Singh to coordinate with the UN and also to verify the findings of the probe conducted by the army, the sources said.
There were allegations that UN troops posted in North Kivu were allegedly buying gold from Hutu militants in exchange for food and rations. There were also allegations that the peacekeepers were in contact with the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, a group, which played an important role in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 that claimed lakhs of lives.
The UN had also sent a management audit team to Congo for obtaining a complete picture about various allegations of serious misconduct against peacekeeping personnel.
Congo's eastern region has been the most vulnerable area as it faces routine attacks on villages by Rwandan rebels who were forced out of their country following the genocide.
While the defence ministry did not rule out the traditional rivalry between India and Pakistan as one of the reasons behind the allegations levelled against Indian troops, it felt that a joint probe with the UN peacekeepers' investigative wing was necessary to counter speculation and rumours about the Indian Army, the sources said.
According to the investigations conducted so far by the UN, soldiers from Pakistan supported a network of businessman involved in smuggling from eastern Congo's gold mines. It was alleged that Pakistani troops provided accommodation, food, transport and even security to these businessmen.
